Back in 1982 artists Merrill and Jeanne Mahaffey invited 30 fellow artists to join them on a 10 day raft trip down the Colorado River. The 200 mile trip was known as R.A.F.T “The 1982 Recessions Artists Float Trip.” Ted Hatch River Expeditions rafting company was chosen for the excursion. The starting point would be Lee’s Ferry and the take out point would be below Lava Falls.
Even though painters made up the majority of the artists selected, poets, writers, jewelry makers, sculptors, ceramicists and photographers were also represented. To get to Arizona Peter would fly with fellow artist Woody Payne (who also happened to be the pilot) Wilma Parker and Jean-Michel Addor. Along the way Peter was able to photograph Lake Powell and Glen Canyon from the air. Once on the river it is hard to say just how many roles of film Peter shot. Merrill Mahaffey estimated that at least 30,000 film exposures were taken on the 10 day trip by the participants. Peter’s main photographic interests were Havasu and Lava Falls, Stone Creek and Marble and Matkatambia Canyons. He also took many photographs of the rafts in the muddy Colorado River rapids. Peter did many wonderful paintings from this trip. I found a note in Peter’s file where he talks about the painting Marble Canyon 2. He wrote “Cold light on polished granite and strong diagonals create visual drama. Ambiguous scale is rescued by a few small clumps of grass- lack of foreground horizontals leaves the viewer floating.” See picture attached.
To sum up the excursion Merrill described the group as “a boisterous tribe of ten year old.” From what Peter told me a lot of beer was consumed on this trip but also a lot of great art work was also created. The artwork created would end up in an exhibition a few years down the road.
In April of 1984 Peter and I attended the opening of the R.A.F.T exhibition at the Scottsdale Center for the Arts. The first thing we saw as we walked in the door were these giant rafts suspended from the ceiling. The next thing we noticed was the magnificent art work on the walls. The show would close on June 3rd and then travel to other venues in Flagstaff and Yuma.
In 2007 a group of 20 former participants gathered to celebrate the 25 anniversary of this excursion.
Peter had a show at The Leslie Levy Gallery in Scottsdale of paintings of the raft boats in the muddy churning rapids. This August marks the 40th anniversary of the trip.